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OnuvanjaParticipant
The genitive form is used for the possesive form, say for example, if someone said “top of the morning” to you. In that case the morning has (possesses) a top. So you need the possesive, aka genetive form of “maidin” So, I think it’s “uachtar na maidin.” Note that “maidin” didn’t change, but the definite article, “na” is being used instead of “an,” indicating it’s a feminine noun.
I think David’s explanation sums it up quite neatly. But if you’re looking for the actual translation of the phrase “top of the morning”, then I think “mora na maidine dhuit” is the usual form. I only discovered it recently myself in O’Dónaill’s dictionary. O’Dónaill also gives “maidine” as the genitive form of “maidin”, but there might be dialectal variation on this.
OnuvanjaParticipantOn the audio lessons I am using, ‘ai’ sounds very similar to the ‘ea’ or IPA /æ/
Indeed, at least in Connemara Irish the short “a” sound is closer to “ea” than “á”, as far as its “quality” is concerned. But it’s much shorter than “ea” or “á”, which are both long sounds.
OnuvanjaParticipantSince there is a programme by that name on Raidió na Gaeltachta, you could just listen to how it is pronounced there. 🙂 The main presenter of the programme is from Connemara, so you’ll mostly hear Connemara Irish, though it also has local news in the other dialects.
I would roughly transcribe it as “AH-WOdin” (stressed syllables in capitals).
OnuvanjaParticipantHi James!
Did you mean ‘sword’ or ‘armour’? ‘Sword’ would be ‘claíomh’, but ‘armour’ is ‘cathéide’ or ‘máille’. I would propose:
Cathéide/Claíomh mar dhíon orm féin, ach sciath mar dhíon ar an líne ar fad. (Armour to protect myself, but shield to protect the whole line)
But wait until you get feedback from other members as well.
OnuvanjaParticipantDear Fertxu,
I also learnt Irish from O’Siadhail’s book, mostly because at the time it was the only textbook available at my university library; the other one, if I remember correctly, had been published in the 1920s. 😉 I think I survived the experience thanks to my utter dedication and the fact that since I was studying linguistics anyway, I wasn’t immediately put off by the highly theoretical teaching method employed by the author… However, if I had to start from scratch again, I would probably look elsewhere, given the wealth of study material that has come out in recent years. If you’re interested in Connemara Irish, then you could start off with “Colloquial Irish” already mentioned by Wee_Falorie_Man and top it up with “Turas Teanga”, “Speaking Irish. An Ghaeilge Bheo” and Des Bishop’s on-line “Cúrsa Gaeilge”, for instance, once you’ve got hang of the basics. In general, I would agree with the previous posts that O’Siadhail is extremely good at explaining grammar and syntax and you really learn an authentic dialect. On the downside, his book is completely lacking in developing communicating skills, so you might put a lot of effort into it only to find out that you’re able to write beautiful Irish, but can’t speak a word.
You mentioned Dingle (which is a beautiful part of the world), so why not consider learning Munster Irish? Unfortunately, I haven’t a clue if there are any up-to-date study materials available. Ulster Irish seems to be better served, e.g. “Now You’re Talking”.
Go n-éirí leat! Mucho animo! 🙂
OnuvanjaParticipantThanks, Cúnla!
Indeed, I spoke somewhat in haste, without checking any sources. Ó Dónaill’s dictionary also gives several examples of ‘féad’ in other tenses.
However, since we’re on the subject, would I be correct in assuming ‘féad’ is more commonly used in the conditional, except for set phrases like “Rinne sé ar fhéad sé” (“He did all he could”)?
OnuvanjaParticipantI’m not sure it’s possible to use “féad” outside the conditional in Connemara Irish… Perhaps in the future tense…?
For instance, you might say “An bhféadfainn ceist a chur ort?” in the conditional, but you would have to replace it with “is féidir” or “bheith + in ann” in other tenses, e.g. “An féidir liom ceist a chur ort?” (present tense or future tense) or “Arbh’fhéidir liom ceist a chur ort?” (past tense or conditional). Another useful structure is “bheith + in ann”, e.g “Bhí mé in ann an obair a chriochnú”, but “in ann” implies “being able to do something”, rather than having a permission.
At least, that’s how I understand it. 🙂
OnuvanjaParticipantOnuvanja: Wouldn’t you use “rudaí” instead of “cúrsaí” in your second sentence or is there a reason why you picked “cúrsaí” instead?
A Séril, a chara, when used in plural ‘cúrsaí’ has a general meaning, e.g ‘cúrsaí reatha’ (“current affairs”), ‘cúrsaí teaghlaigh’ (“family matters”), etc. In this sense, it’s an all-purpose word like ‘scéal’ (“situation”, “things”), the difference being that ‘an scéal’ is used on its own, whereas ‘cúrsaí’ is followed a word that specifies the field that is being dealt with, e.g. ‘ceoil’, ‘airgeadais’, ‘staidéir’, etc.
In my opinion, ‘rudaí’ wouldn’t sound idiomatic in this particular context.
OnuvanjaParticipantOr perhaps:
Tá súil agam go dtiocfaidh athrú ar an scéal sula i bhfad – Hope things will change before long.
Tá súil agam nach mar sin a fhanfaidh cúrsaí oibre go deo – Hope things at work won’t stay like that for ever.
For some reason, I’m a bit weary of using “mair”. I might be completely wrong, but to me, it has a connotation of ‘survival’ or ‘making it’.
OnuvanjaParticipantThe root verb is ‘inis’ (“to tell”); ‘neosfainn’ is an alternative form for the conditional in Munster Irish, the standard form being ‘inseoinn’ (“I would tell”). You have the same parallel forms in the future tense: inseoidh vs neosfaidh.
OnuvanjaParticipantCinnte, a Aonghuis, ag déanamh tagairt don chiall atá le ‘eclipse’ nó ‘urú’ sa ngnáthchaint (=rud eicínt a ghlacann an áit a bhí ag rud eile) a bhí mé.
Tá a fhios agam gur cúinge an chiall atá le ‘urú’ sa teangeolaíocht.
Mar sin féin, an bhféadfadh éinne agaibh a mhiniú dhom cé as ar tháinig an “t” ‘úd?
OnuvanjaParticipantIt’s a pity prefixing “t” to “s” doesn’t qualify as eclipsis, because if you think about the meaning of the word ‘eclipsis’, that’s exactly what it is… 😉
In Wikipedia, they refer to it as “t-prothesis”, without really going into details. Would anyone happen to know why this “t” appears before the “s”? Is it due to the same residual “t/d” sound in *sindos that was mentioned above? Similarly, you have a prefixed “t” in feminine nouns beginning with “s” when they are preceded by the definite article, e.g. “sráid” -> “an tsráid”.
OnuvanjaParticipantYes, “he went off along the road” is probably the most appropriate translation, as “soir” and “siar” sometimes seem to be used quite loosely… but I have a hunch that local Irish speakers would know exactly what direction such terms refer to in their area. 🙂
By the way, BrídMhór has left an interesting comment on this topic on another Irish-language forum:
http://www.irishgaelictranslator.com/translation/topic87622-20.htmlOnuvanjaParticipant“Siar” also means “west”, “westwards” when it’s used with a motion verb. I would say that’s what is implied in your sentence.
OnuvanjaParticipantLe dea-mhéin (gan síneadh fada ar an ‘a’)
nó
Le gach dea-mhéin
Sorry, Antóin is right. In Standard Irish the particle “dea-” is spelt with a short “a”. (“Deá-” would be the Connemara pronunciation)
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